


Darkest Before the Dawn

by Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bard can't cook, Bard is a good daddy, Canon Divergence - Battle of Five Armies, F/M, Nobody Dies, There needs to be more Bard/OC stories, and the sons of Durin aren't squares, because death is for squares, if a tad bit... overprotective, like we're talking 'burning water' kind of can't cook, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 00:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3671346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan/pseuds/Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sigrid and accompanying entourage are ambushed on their way home to Dale from a political meeting and saved by a stranger, who is then towed (quite unwillingly) by Sigrid to meet her father. What follows is an adventure involving good humor, bad humor, romance, violence, and kitchen fires. Not quite in that order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darkest Before the Dawn

The sun shone overhead, and Sigrid opted to leave her heavy cloak tied to her horse's saddle to enjoy the warmth of the rays to their fullest. After a hard Winter, it felt good to have the heat in her hair and on her skin. She stubbornly ignored the looks from her guards and the grumblings from Hamish, her best friend since she'd been a wee lass. He'd been assigned by her father as her personal guard for this venture, and while she wasn't all that upset by his choice, she still would have preferred only a small group. "Safety in numbers, Sigrid. If I didn't need Bain's help I would send him instead, but you'll be safe enough with Hamish." he'd said.

"Really, Lady Sigrid, if you won't wear your cloak, would you at the very least put a hat on or something?" Hamish said/whined, sending an unnerved to their surroundings. "Your hair shines so bright we'll be attacked by bandits who think we have gold." If she didn't know any better she'd think that was a pass on her. But Hamish has said more than once he wasn't interested in her like that, and she trusted him.

That didn't stop her from rolling her eyes and easily dismissing him, petting the neck of her steed as she spoke. "Hamish, you and I bathed together when we were but toddlers. Please, for the love of Eru, would you drop the 'lady' bit?" A guard snorted, causing one of his fellows to elbow him, and Sigrid flashed the two of them a rather feral grin that she'd accidentally picked up from her dwarven friends. "I heard that, Mikail. And I know exactly what that sounded like, so if you have anything you'd like to add to the conversation, say it now before we reach Mirkwood and the patrol that's going to escort us."

The group chuckled a little, but no one said anything. They'd all watched the little girl go from the daughter of a bargeman to the Lady of Dale, daughter of Lord Bard, and a force to be reckoned with in her own right. They make fun of Hamish and they'd all get a walloping. "That's what I thought." Sigrid gave them all a sweet smile that did nothing to reassure any of them before looking at her childhood friend again. "Hamish, we're surrounded on all sides by nothing but meadows and flat lands. If there are orcs or wargs around, we'd see them long before they came. Daniel is skilled enough with his bow that their numbers would be manageable, if not completely depleted, by the time they got to us. Stop being paranoid, you silly fool!"

Hamish finally turned away from the rocky terrain to glower at her. It fit his face so much better than the pensive look he'd worn previously. "Not paranoid, cautious. One of us has to be, and it certainly isn't going to be the woman who thought it was a good idea to hide on her father's barge just to meet a few elves."

Sigrid gaped dramatically, even as the laughter of her guards rang out into the air. "How could you, Hamish?"she wailed, eyes large and wet. "Betrayed by my dearest and oldest friend! Oh, to have fallen so far!" She pretended to sob into the crook of her arm, shoulders shaking in ill-concealed humor.

The next five hours passed like that, Hamish and Sigrid sniping and snarking and sassing at each other. It felt so natural between the eight of them that they stopped paying attention to their surroundings. None of them noticed how the meadows and plains quickly turned to hills and moors, or how their horses were becoming unsettled and restless. Their first mistake. Their second was freezing when the sound of an arrow hitting flesh came, and Duncan fell off his horse limply.

Sigrid screamed, and that seemed like the signal their ambushers had been waiting for. Orcs came streaming from behind the hills, as if they'd been waiting for them, and came at the remaining seven with spit flying and weapons bared. The humans leaped down from their rides and drew their crude blades, cheeks pale and eyes wide. All of them were having flashbacks of the Battle of Five Armies, five years ago. All the pain and death and horror and blood...

From the folds of her dress, Sigrid shakily withdrew a knife. Her father had insisted she take it as a means to protect herself, and she was never gladder for his overprotectiveness as that moment. There were about 10 orcs, so the odds of surviving weren't TOO devastating. The odds of ALL of them surviving plummeted though, even if you excluded Duncan's unmoving form.

In an effort to not completely lose her composure, she said to her friend, "Well, it's not a bunch of bandits coming after my hair made of gold." It was the wrong time to make a joke, but the scathing look Hamish sent her was so worth it.

The following ten minutes were some of the most terrifying Sigrid had ever been through. Still not as terrifying as when the dragon attacked Laketown, or when the orcs and goblins and wargs had attacked them in the ruins of Dale, but still pretty damn scary. All Sigrid had to defend herself was her knife. It wasn't even a long knife, either. Shorter than her forearm, the most she could do was stab one of the orcs if they came too close. And holy shit, did they come too close! The skirt of her dress was torn and dirty, and both sleeves were black with blood that she didn't think she'd ever be able to wash out. She'd have to burn it. Sad, she liked this dress.

An orc roared over her head and Sigrid stared up at it, chest heaving and heart pounding. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she froze. Freezing in the middle of a fight is probably the stupidest thing she could have done. She saw the crude blade of the orc slowly descend and would have been killed in the most painfully horrific way possible if a throwing dagger hadn't suddenly found it's way in the orc's skull, killing it instantly.

There was only one thing wrong with that. None of her companions owned throwing daggers. Sigrid looked to wear the weapon had come from and saw, to her astonishment, a woman. She was weaving in and out between the orcs with an ease Sigrid had never seen from a woman of Man. She held a short sword in her left hand and another throwing dagger in her right. Even as Sigrid watched, the woman lobbed it straight at another orc who'd been looming over Hamish.

With the woman's help, soon all ten of the vile things were dead. Duncan had been killed, and Daniel had a broken arm, but aside from that everything was a'ok. Sigrid was unharmed and Hamish only had cuts and bruises. As cruel as it made her feel, they were all she really cared about. With her childhood friend following after her, Sigrid went up to the woman- who was retrieving her throwing daggers from the head of the orc that had attacked Sigrid.

She ignored the disgusting squelching sound when the blade was yanked violently from the dead creature's temple and spoke. "Thank you for you help, miss." she said politely, curtsying. The woman cast her a half-glance before continuing to wipe the blood from her dagger. Sigrid shared a glance with Hamish before continuing. "I am Lady Sigrid, princess of Dale. I'm afraid we've no way right now to repay you for your kindness, since our steeds ran off earlier, but-"

At that the woman looked fully at them, and Sigrid was surprised to see the kind smile on her face. "Think nothing of it, sweetheart. I heard your scream earlier and couldn't leave you all in good conscience to face these brutes yourselves." She looked around at all the men, a frown on her face. "You lot aren't properly trained for fighting; I could tell that much just by watching you." Her eyes fell on the still body of Duncan, and pity and sympathy softened her worn face. "If you'd like, I can help bury your dead and treat your wounded. My camp is about five minutes from here. I don't have much to offer, but it's at least something."

Sigrid looked at her carefully before nodding gratefully. "I can't say what the others will think, but I'll be glad of your help." The woman nodded and sheathed her dagger before going to retrieve more. Sigrid watched her for a moment before realizing she didn't even know her name. "Oh dear, how rude of me. I'm taking advantage of your hospitality and I don't even know your name!"

The woman turned back to Sigrid with a toothy smile and half-bowed with her hand over her head. The gesture was enough to make Sigrid gape, as it was something she'd only seen from the dwarves. "Aleyna, daughter of Alana, your highness, at your service!"

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the ending is abrupt. But I didn't want to drag it out. Next chapter will be learning more about Aleyna.


End file.
